May 2007

May 27, 2007

Anyone still mourning the passing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, may get a shot in the jugular with Lifetime television’s new vampire series, Blood Ties.

Based on a series of novels written by Tanya Huff, the show focuses on ex-cop turned P.I. Vicki Nelson (Christina Cox), who finds herself immersed in the world of the supernatural and torn between her ex-lover and partner, Detective Mike Celluci (Dylan Neal), and vampire Henry Fitzroy (Kyle Schmid), the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. Each week finds the triumvirate involved in a mystery that reveals itself to be otherworldly.

The showrunner on Blood Ties is Peter Mohan, who has over 400 hours of television credited to him. Among the shows he’s been connected with are Mission to Mars, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, Due South, Eerie, Indiana, Code Named Eternity, Mutant X, Relic Hunter, La Femme Nikita, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Highlander.

Vampires & Slayers will be offering a series of articles on Blood Ties, beginning with this interview with Mohan.

VAMPIRES & SLAYERS: The show seems to have a lot of potential. I just hope that it manages to connect with the Lifetime audience because it’s so different from their usual fare.

PETER MOHAN: They’re actually really thrilled. I was just talking to them today and they’re over the moon, because they see it as a big opportunity to get a new audience and get their audience to open up to other things. They’ve done a lot of testing and everybody’s thrilled. All the hardcore viewers say they loved it and other people have expressed their surprise that it’s on Lifetime, but they really do like it.

VAMPIRES & SLAYERS: You were working on the show before Lifetime picked it up. Did the network need any changes or seek a different direction because of the type of shows they usually air?